ep.3 No Sugar
| Blend coffee | 500 yen |
| Espresso | 600 yen |
| Cafe au lait | 650 yen |
| Vienna coffee | 780 yen |
| Cocoa | 680 yen |
| Black tea | 600 yen |
| Chai | 700 yen |
| Rooibos tea | 650 yen |
(Hmmm… Should I get hot milk tea or chai?)
(Milk tea would usually be my first choice, but if they’re usin’ skim milk instead of whole milk, I’m goin’ with chai.)
(Some bougie places that use whole milk heat up the milk pitcher so the tea doesn’t get cold. Now that’s where you can get real top-shelf black tea.)
But wouldn’t that piss off some milk tea drinkers? If they got a milk pitcher here, they’re definitely using whole milk…
Hm…
Tch. Just a buncha coffeeheads here…
Fancy a cafe au lait?
Huh?
A cafe au lait. Iced.
Fuck off. Don’t talk to me.
Do you know what you’d like to order?
……
An espresso.
*sigh…* A hot milk tea.
Would you like to add milk or lem—
Milk.
Would you like that hot or i—
Hot.
(I already fuckin’ said alla that…)
Got it, thank you. It’ll be out soon.
Your fellow humans do not take kindly to those who berate employees.
Then don’t piss me off on purpose.
Haha…
<An announcement to all passengers on ZAL Airlines flight ZE302, headed to Aomori.>
…!
<Due to inclement weather, this flight has now been canceled. We apologize for any disturbance caused.>
<I repeat, an announcement to all passengers on ZAL Airlines flight ZE302…>
Tch.
Do you plan on acting uncouth towards the airline employees as well? ’Tis not their fault the weather took a unfortunate turn.
I ain’t even said anything yet.
(Shit. Out of alla the flights here, the Aomori one had to be the only one to get canceled.)
…Some fuckin’ luck I got.
Luck is not to blame in this case either. It was decided that you would be stranded here on this day long before you were even born.
And what’s more, Toi becoming the replacement for the Shiramitsu family’s human sacrifice was yet another—
Just shut the fuck up already. Divination? Destiny? I’m sick of hearin’ about alla your pretentious fatalist bullshit.
I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe in you, and I don’t believe in destiny. That’s why I’m gettin’ outta HAMA.
Hah. Hahaha…! Well, luckily, I just remembered a wonderful story I had for you.
Huh?
It’s very encouraging and heartwarming, I assure you. Oh, when did it happen again…? And in which country, at that?
Many people of a certain race lost their lives simply due to the way they were. They were stuffed shoulder-to-shoulder on trains heading to death camps, with no way for them to make it out alive.
Such irrational violence! Despair as far as the eye could see!
But there was a particular psychologist1 in the midst of this madness who never lost his way. He continued to cling onto hope, and he managed to survive. Do you know what he believed in the entire time?
*sigh* I don’t give a fuck.
He believed that we were in charge of our own destinies. That we had free will in our lives. That we are all our own main characters.
……
If you find your life to be out of your control, you must find what you can control and direct your focus on it. That is how humans can attain happiness and hope, or so he believed.
In short, your independent choice to buy hot black tea with added milk may very well bring you happiness, Ryui.
*sigh* What’re you gettin’ at?
I simply hope your black tea finds its way to you. Hot, and with added milk.
Huh?
Your orders are ready.
……
One espresso and one iced cafe au lait.
Ahahaha!
Hey. Didja even listen to what I said? Huh? I asked for a hot milk tea.
Huh? Did you…?
Ugh! Whatever! It’s fine.
Oh… What’s fine?
The iced cafe au lait is fine, so just put it on the goddamn counter!
Uh, but…
Don’t make me repeat myself. I’ll just take the damn thing.
Hand it over. And get back to work.
Okay, thank you. Sorry for the trouble.
……
Well, don’t you seem happy?
Motherfucker… You knew this was gonna happen, so you brought up all that happiness bullshit to fuck with me, didn’tcha?!
Oh, are you going to try and reject fatalism again by saying “I shouldn’t have trusted my order with that dimwit”, or something along those lines?
Humans don’t like guys who verbally harass employees, fuckface.
Ahaha… Well, either way, I’m sure you understand now.
If you attempt to change your destiny, an irresistible force will always pull you right back into the box where you belong.
That is what we call fate.
……
Even if you were to make it to Aomori and traced back your roots there, you would not redirect the path you are on. Perhaps that is why the heavens decided to cancel your flight.
…Just sounds like a post hoc fallacy to me. Outsiders like you should mind their own damn business.
If this road’s blocked off, I just gotta find another one.
Humans cannot see fate, therefore, they live in candy-coated delusion. All they can do in retaliation is thrash about like an infant. Such a pitiful sight has me overflowing with love for your kind.
Tch. Fuckin’ gross.
How did you like the cafe au lait?
Needed more sugar.
Footnotes
-
This is referencing Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychologist and Holocaust survivor. He is known for his pursuit of the meaning of life, happiness, and self-growth, which he compiled into his finding of logotherapy, a form of therapy that attempts to help people find meaning in their lives to achieve happiness. ↩